The arrests foiled about 10 planned attacks, including on government and military targets and officials and media personalities, al-Turki told a televised press conference in Riyadh today. The investigation is ongoing and it’s too early to determine whether oil installations were also targeted, he said.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil supplier, stepped up operations against al-Qaeda in 2004 after militants struck an oil installation and stormed a housing complex in the city of al-Khobar, killing 22 foreign workers. Many al-Qaeda fighters seeking to escape the crackdown fled across the border to Yemen, the source of several recent attempted bombings by the group.